The latest series of doctoral events I attended was the workshop and conferences: “Context for Humanity – Bionics as a Solution for Sustainable Living,” coordinated by Prof. Dr. Arch. Rosa Cervera, University of Alcala de Henares, Spain – in Bucharest (May 27-28, UAUIM) and Tulcea (May 29-31, Vernacular Center), organized by UAUIM through the Doctoral School of Architecture and the Faculty of Interior Design, together with the Tulcea City Hall and the Context for Humanity Association (Tulcea).

During the conferences, I gave the following presentations in English: “Linking Bionic Architectural Interfaces with Ecosystem Services,” a summary of the report no. 3 and chapter III of the dissertation – Biomimetic and bionic ecosystem interfaces, at the Bucharest conference “Bionics, a Solution for Sustainable Living” and “Methods of Ecosystemic Research in Architectural, Landscape and Urban Design.”.

I also drafted the event poster and applicant poster layout and was part of the organizing team.

The purpose of the workshop was to identify ideas for micro-actions regarding urban ecological actions. The group’s proposal I was part of involved incorporating spaces for composting systems and waste recycling/separation into building designs for tenants’ associations or communities, and organizing graphic dissemination events and contests to spread this idea.

DANUBIUS-RI, The International Centre for Advanced Studies on River-Sea Systems, is one of the largest pan-European research projects with a Romanian component as of 2019 and refers to a CDI infrastructure for interdisciplinary studies of sea-river systems, designed to support “research that addresses conflicts between societal requirements, environmental changes, and environmental protection in river systems around the world.

The infrastructure is estimated to be operational by 2022, being included in the ESFRI 2016 Planning, with its headquarters in Murighiol, and selected as a flagship project for the European Strategy for the Danube. At the European Union level, the preparation phase of the project was funded through Horizon 2020 (grant no. 739562/2016).

My personal contribution, within the team of architects, focused on the architectural interfaces of the built components (Data Center) through the proposal to ecosystematize these interfaces (ecological interfaces), as a direct application of doctoral research. DANUBIUS is still in a design phase at the time of thesis completion.

It is important to note that although this type of CDI infrastructure is not directly linked to the field of architecture, architecture and design of architectural elements cannot fail to be part of research infrastructure and, through adapted language choices, can offer theoretical and practical support, as well as a competitive advantage.

On March 11, 2018, I participated in another thematic working group meeting, organized by the Better initiative (Florin Enache), with architects, engineers, urban planners, and other specialists at #reConstruim 2018, within ConstructExpo, on day number 4 – Green & Smart (moderated by architect Sergiu Petrea, one of the most recognized promoters of ecological architecture in Romania). I was part of the NZEB group coordinated by architect Radu Andone and presented our team’s pitch.

Premises of creating a sustainable development center from the experience of internships performed at ROSTeu Brussels, are appropriate for the development of the Ion Mincu University of Architecture and Urbanism, commissioning a research centre on sustainable anthropogenic ecosystems, taking into account the European attention to nature-based solutions, natural capital and ecosystem services, including from the Point of Financing (high number of projects funded by FP7 and Horizon 2020 for these topics, compared to previous programmes) and climate change worsening, in the context of over-glomeration of urban environments and urban built fund.

Creating such a centre would favour the education of a nucleus of specialists (master’s and PhDs, postdoctoral, teachers and researchers) at UAUIM, which could apply in partnership with other universities, research-development-innovation centres and national, European or international organisations, attracting funding and cultivating complementary skills to those who already have teachers and current graduates.

At the same time, the retention of specialists at UAUIM or in Romania would positively impact the quality of the academic offer. Participation in modern funding instruments such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions or COST Actions, organising Climathon workshops locally, perhaps even similar to Biomimicry Design Challenges or TEDx, would complement current, one-off involvement in Erasmus+ projects.

The proposal also appears feasible in the context of theoretical, academic and even practical experience through a number of former Doctoral School doctoral students, open to participate in the development of a pedagogical nucleus on sustainability and resilience of the architectural and/or urban building fund, as well as and of multidisciplinary groups that are constantly testing, in recent years, practically, passive homes or NZEB type for Solar Decathlon competitions (Prispa, EFDN, OVER4 etc.).

Last but not least, there are already Doctoral coordinators with relevant experience and who have already obtained research funding in close areas in previous years (preventing the risk of natural disasters, lowering the levels of urban heat islands, etc.), respectively from PhDs, there are self-organisation concerns on thematic groups, which are framed in national/ European research priorities and thus more fundable than other classical topics of architecture research.

A portion of the theoretical research resulting from the Laser Valley competition application was integrated into a thematic article submitted to “Universul Științelor ed. VIII,” a symposium organized by a consortium of local universities in Iași in October 2017, with text developed together with engineer drd. Manea Ciprian (UPB), regarding the future of architectural interfaces from shelter and protection to tools for work, production, and communication.

In the 2017 FIKEA application, we associated the TUBATECT production process with Europe’s ecological priorities – “efficient control of excessive noise, efficient waste management systems, nature and biodiversity protection programs and implementation of a green infrastructure”, as well as reducing pressure on the environment in the urban area and neighboring areas, such as traffic (to the landfill), the restriction of natural ecosystems (by occupying garbage pits), industrial pollution and waste, and energy consumed (for garbage incineration, transport).

Also, through that application, we proposed 3 objectives, which denote the impact and similarity of our upcycling action with ecosystem measures / typical functions found in biological systems:

Reducing the amount of waste simply thrown into the environment, with the harmful effects of pollution of the different layers of the biosphere and the destruction of natural habitats.

• Intelligent recovery of products that are apparently at the end of their life, through reuse, recycling, grinding, returning them to the state of raw material, and, of course, upcycling.
• Waste is a resource, but when you can reuse it with simple, non-consumptive processes (of time, energy, transport, etc.), it is all the more valuable.
• Simplifying separation operations at source, by creating and expanding mechanisms and opportunities for selective collection and quality control, at different age levels, in a complex process of educating the citizen in parallel with separation. (FIKEA 2017 application, together with Asura Association).
• The grant-writing period overlapped with the research phase on ecosystem services, and thus we found synergies between them and the TUBATECT project.

The conference was followed by a workshop with the guest audience (such as representatives of public, local, regional, national, European, NGOs, private companies, etc.) and parallel sessions for debates .

My participation was motivated by interest in the subject and activities on TUBATECT, as well as for the implementation of other creative waste recovery ideas in commercializable products.

Check out the list of events I participated in during my ROSTeu 2017 internship, broken down by month and including a brief description.

• January 31: Innovation School 6 – Internalisation of RTO (EARTO) – Session presenting RTO (Research and Technology Organisation) internationalisation.
• February 2: Seminar “Turning to Nature in Disaster Risk Prevention and Climate Change Adaptation” (External Cooperation Infopoint EC) – Presentation of nature-based solutions for disaster prevention.
• February 6/10: IGLO TRAINING – Training for IGLO interns on research strategies at the European Union level.
• April 4: Presentation “Open Science” (IGLO Open) – Presentation of the concept promoted by the European Commissioner for Research, Carlos Moedas, “Open Science” regarding the transition to a system where articles and research results funded by the EU have free access, without fees.
• April 5: Mobility and Training for Young Researchers (DAAD) – Seminar.
• April 24: Presentation “Copernicus for Cultural Heritage” – Using the Copernicus satellite system in preserving built heritage.
• May 9-10: Training Session Open Innovation (RISE and Teknikföretagen) – Certified training on “Open” innovation for private companies, supported by the Swedish research and innovation organisation RISE, from concept to prototype and scaling on the market.
• May 11: Visit to REA, Research Executive Agency – Information on the functioning of the agency, responsible for evaluating research applications and granting European funding for research.
• May 12: Visit to the European Parliament – Information on the EP’s functioning.
• May 18: Presentation “H2020 Visualisation Tool” (Vinnova) – Presentation of the visualisation tool created by the Swedish research institution regarding the access to Horizon 2020 funding by Member States, beneficiaries and topics.
• May 18: Webinar Training “The COST programme – What’s in it for your clients-NCP Academy” – Seminar regarding COST actions.
• May 23: Horizon 2020 SME Instrument – Master Class Bucharest (ROSTeu, in Bucharest) – Participation and assistance in organising the Horizon 2020 funding instrument for SMEs.
• June 15: Presentation MSCA info (UB / Faculty of Law) – Presentation on how to write applications for MSCA grants.

In the autumn 2016 I applied together with my colleagues (from right to left) arch. Florin Cristache (concept), stud. arch. Caesar Udrea (execution) and Valentin Corodescu (website, marketing) at the contest Awards for a clean medium edition no. VIII, winning the Grand Prix for a Clean Environment in the Companies category (the other sections being awarded for NGOs, Public Institutions and Education Institutions).

Competitors in our category were projects and programmes in Kaufland and Carrefour, among 98 participants (in all categories), which made the prize even more special.

Recovery of tubes and very rapid creative use and upcycling as furniture components makes the final product an innovative, visually increased, visually impacted by form̆ and dimension, blending, ecological character, by innovation, simplicity, and long-term use that represent competitive advantages in the furniture industry.

ROSTeu, part of the Ministry of Research, coordinates the national network of Contact Points for the Horizon 2020 program in Romania (NCPs, National Contact Points) and ensures institutional links with the equivalent offices in Member States for Romanian institutes and research centers, and universities, playing a crucial role in ensuring multilateral meetings for Romanian projects with European partners – the ELI-NP social project is based in ROSTeu’s premises.

The IGLO network includes over 20 similar offices from partner states, organizing monthly events on various research topics, networking, and exchange of experiences, and periodically providing training for interns regarding the strategies, programs, and funding aspects for research and development and innovation in the EU. I also participated in a week-long training program.

The ROST institution facilitated my enrollment, as its representative, in several European research conferences organised by various directorates of the Commission and other institutions in Brussels. The first internship took place in November/December 2016 (2 weeks), and I returned due to the exceptional potential to accumulate new information from the source, needed for the doctoral study, for a longer internship from January to June 2017. The internships were financially supported by me, as although ROSTeu accepts Erasmus work mobility (the situation of other intern colleagues during the same period), at that time there was no contract with UAUIM, and I did not have enough time for the required periods (3/9 months).

Check out the list of events I participated in during my ROSTeu 2016 internship, broken down by month and including a brief description.

2016

• November 29: Conference “20 Years of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions” (EC DG-RTD) – Familiarisation with MSCA program, grants for doctoral candidates and young researchers, part of Horizon 2020.
• November 29: Conference “European Social Index” (Committee of Regions, EC) – Presentation of the European context on social aspects (economy, demography, poverty, etc.), references to the European Competitiveness Index (partially).
• November 30: Conference “EU Belmont Forum Day – Funding research to address the challenges of global environmental change” (Belmont Forum) – Presentation of synergies between achieving the 2030 SDGs and the funding priorities of the Forum and the Union, including CRA schemes.
• November 30: Conference “Circular Economy” (Techitaly, online registration) – Concepts, new technologies, programs, funding, from the Italian perspective and within the European framework (Horizon 2020).
• December 1: Conference “Factories of the Future Conference 2016 – Materialising Factories 4.0” (EFFRA) – Future of research for Industry 4.0 and new generations of manufacturing, including in construction and new materials.
• December 5: Conference “Research and Innovation for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the European Context: Current State of Play and Ways Forward” (CEPS) – regarding the current state of achieving the 2030 SDGs in the EU, strategies and actions.
• December 6: Presentation “European Institute of Innovation & Technology” (IGLO OPEN) – Within the monthly meeting of the IGLO NETWORK (open to interns) of the EIT program (framework for ClimateKIC, as mentioned in the previous sub-chapter), from a delegation of the EC.
• December 7: Policy seminar and workshop on: “Cultural Heritage, Disaster Resilience and Climate Change: the Contribution of EU Research and Innovation” (EC DG-RTD, DG Climate Action and Resources Efficiency, REA, JP CH, EASME) – presentation of recent results of the latest European thematic projects, priorities for public policy, etc.
• December 7: Presentation “Circular Economy” (POLSCA) – Polish examples of the circular economy presented by the Polish equivalent of ROST (evening event).
• December 8: Conference “Innovative by Nature: Responding to Societal Challenges through Nature-Based Solutions and Cultural Heritage” (EC DG-RTD, DG Climate Action and Resources Efficiency, REA, JP CH, EASME) – The conference through which I came into contact with the OPPLA.eu portal and a large part of the results of European projects regarding NBS, green infrastructure and ecosystem services.

This paper, presented at an international conference, marked the beginning of my second year of doctoral studies (November 4, 2016) and was written in English. The work explores the perspective of reinterpreting architectural elements in an ecosystemic manner, adapting buildings to the surrounding natural environment, or rather, enhancing it, increasing its value through multifunctional interfaces, with functions similar to biological systems (like ecosystem services), or simply carriers of intentional, premeditated, cultivated, designed natural capital.

The article synthesizes a series of observations from the early stages of doctoral research, developed in chapters I and II of the thesis. It addresses the transition to the Anthropocene geological epoch (due to the practically irreversible impact of humanity on geological layers and all natural habitats, soil, water, air, and the entire biodiversity) and the potential of architecture (through a wide range of tools such as policies, mechanisms, procedures, processes, technologies, objects, subsystems) to mitigate conflicts and disasters between the built environment and human habitats, versus the natural environment and its ecosystems. This is achieved through the integration of components that provide nature-typical benefits around buildings/settlements.

These new values and strengths of architecture overlay and enrich both systems, with the potential for symbiosis, where desired.

The conference was organized by UAUIM (coordinated by Professor Cristina Olga Gociman, UrbanRisk Manager) and INCD URBAN INCERC (Director ECBR, Dr. Eng. Emil-Sever Georgescu), under the theme “Risk reduction of multi-hazard in protected urban areas through strategies of architecture, engineering, and urban planning to ensure urban resilience.” The paper was presented at UAUIM, and the abstract was published in the conference volume, which was published the same year in printed and DVD formats.

The article primarily addressed the topic of “Ecological and environmental risks: natural hazards, climate change, perspectives on ecosystems, green (ecological) economy,” but also indirectly those of technical, urban, social, and cultural risks. During documentation for the article, following the model of the NWRM.eu project (Natural Water Retention Measures), I observed that presenting synergies between multifunctional architectural interfaces and ecosystem services is the most effective approach to exemplify the theoretical concepts of this research: “In an age of multifunctionality, our large volume of walls, floors, and roofs should be more than just tools of isolation (shelter), but rather a canvas for a new type of infrastructure that purifies our soil, air, and water, increases our food and plants, nourishes us and our animals, prints our objects, and even serves as our workplaces, communication, and education platforms.”

The online environmental news platform Green Report published an article about the event (reporter Irina Breniuc): “Adrian Ibric and his team of architects proposed using temporarily abandoned land in cities. One idea would be to create sustainable parking areas with photovoltaic or green roofs to temporarily solve the parking problem in cities. Another would be to green or decorate fences at the edge of abandoned properties, fences whose appearance discourages citizens from passing by them.”

The core idea behind the “Filling Voids is Making Money” presentation was that local authorities, neighborhood communities, and landowners of vacant lots that lack maintenance options should form action groups based on the “win-win” principle. With minimal interventions, these vacant or abandoned urban lots, including their boundaries, could be used as temporary interfaces, products, and functions to increase ecological mobility and offer community services, in exchange for reduced taxes and other incentives for private landowners.

This paradigm, focused on minimal intervention to make use of repurposed space, is based on the broken windows theory. This theory suggests that a clean, orderly, and socially positive urban environment discourages anti-social behavior.

The proposal was structured in the classic Climathon format:

• DEAL – Business, Understanding: Utilizing abandoned spaces for community purposes.
• CLIENTS – Potential Clients: Public/private owners of vacant urban parcels, local administrations, business angels (for new services), and entrepreneurs/ecopreneurs.
• MARKET – Market and Potential Business Types: Parking services, advertising agencies, marketing departments, and local administrations.
• PRODUCT – Offered Products: Transforming vacant spaces into architectural interfaces / Providing eco-mobility services on LOT (Ecological parking with photovoltaic/green roofs) and LIMIT (Interactive, creative, media, or green fences, even urban agricultural) and new URBAN POLICIES for (re)defining the regulation of unused interstitial space and urban boundaries (collages with examples are included on the following pages).
• FINANCIALS – Financial Aspects: Potential for higher income for the Local Administration through the taxation of new services, the possibility of selling adjacent properties (yards, houses, and apartments) at a higher price due to increased neighborhood image and comfort, and again, higher income for the administration. On the other hand, lower local taxes for owners of vacant parcels make these spaces available and, where possible, rent them to potential mobile, seasonal, or temporary businesses.
• CLIMATE IMPACT – Environmental Impact: Reducing unauthorized parking and freeing up sidewalks and alleys or side lanes, which leads to faster, less polluting auto (lighter and faster traffic), bicycle, and pedestrian mobility (green energy, more green spaces), and environmental education for the community, especially for new generations, through an example of good practice.
• COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE, NEEDS, ISSUES – Competitive Advantage: Transforming problems such as unkempt, abandoned, neglected, unused, unproductive, unsightly spaces, and potentially problem-generating urban areas (foci of infection, dirt, garbage) into opportunities – modernized spaces, vibrant, inexpensive-to-rent interfaces (for entrepreneurs), street promotion for neighborhoods and administrations, energy production, green areas, recreation spaces, or urban gardening – particularly useful in areas without parks, so residents don’t have to travel by car to reach them. It was also proposed to use some voids for temporary neighborhood parking (as already exists, especially in the city center), although this proposal provoked a lively debate among the audience and jury members, given that it could lead to increased traffic and continued congestion, despite the advantage that parking would be equipped with solar, photovoltaic, or green roofs.
• TEAM & FOUNDER’S DREAM – Team Vision: “Improving our cities by converting ugly voids into better, greener, more communicative urban areas.”
• MOBILITY / INDIVIDUAL PROBLEMS – Mobility and Individual Problems: The possibility of legal parking without occupying sidewalks, reducing pollution and unproductive traffic generated by waiting and the stress, time, and money spent in a car, and increased contact with green space.
• SOCIAL & CULTURAL ADVANTAGES – Social and Cultural Advantages: Passion for urban regeneration, new splashes of color, new businesses, involved locals, neighborhood events, a more united community, and a change from traditional somber clichés – 3-meter-high rusted fences for abandoned construction sites or unkempt bushes where dogs or street people gather.
• BUSINESS PLAN – Business Plan: A viable business plan for this idea was a mobile and internet APPLICATION, with mapping of the relevant land – a complete map of the city of Bucharest (but the concept can be applied globally), following the model of Calup (which subsequently led to the creation of NOD Makerspace) or the Yplan Geoblog Android application for public spaces. The online solution could connect owners with citizens, communities, tenants’ associations, or entrepreneurs, all of whom would be part of an administrative program to benefit from potential subsidies/reductions/deductions/incentives, etc. There’s a foreign website dedicated to abandoned sites for photographers seeking such backgrounds or settings for their sessions – SHOT HOTSPOT.

In one of the interviews that was accorded in 2016, for an article by Irina Breniuc about recycling companies in Romania, we emphasised that for our range, it is more important to keep tubes untreated, neither with resins nor paint, and to keep the intervention as simple as possible, with as limited consumption of resources in the manufacturing section and to reach the 100% ecological percentage.

Basically, the most harmful element in question is the binder with which the original cardboard tube occurs before paper is placed on it and reach us: “The main feature of the furniture in cardboard tubes is that it is 100% eco.”

To preserve its sustainability, Adrian refused to use paint, even though it would make it more attractive and durable. He thinks this is exactly what attracts customers: the product’s sustainability. However, it recognises that design plays an important role as well.

Even if it is extremely simple, it draws attention immediately. In addition, its modularity makes it easy to dismantle and adapt to needs.

However, it is not resistant, it gets dirty easily, and if it gets wet, it deteriorates. In the cabinet, he lasted until about 5 years ago. “And he will still last that, Adrian believes, as it is used for storing files.”

The website is in English, intended for the younger generation in Romania and Europe, and is a type visit card, for exposing models in the offer, and for highlighting the principles of sustainability, zero waste, ecology, and circular economy.

1. LIMITS / URBAN FENCES – as Community Spaces: Spaces for the local community, devices for energy production, purification and oxygenation, communication tools, etc.

• Fences occupied by the creative industry, with street art, spontaneous or organized through events (illustrated in attached images).
• Interactive and media fences for public or community information display, creative lighting, facade media urban art.
• Green fences, living walls, or interpretations thereof, or vertical landscaping, planned or created and maintained by neighborhood communities or local urban planning departments (ADPs).
• Urban-agricultural fences and walls, for climbing plants (and even food crops).
• Solar fences or microalgae panels.

2. LOTS – Transforming vacant spaces into architectural interfaces / Providing eco-mobility services on LOT (benefits: awareness, proximity to space, clean air, reduced pollution):

• Ecological parking with solar (thermal or photovoltaic) or green roofs, lawn cover.
• Completing voids with urban agriculture / guerrilla gardening.
• Ecologizing voids, arranging spaces with minimal intervention (grass, stones, improvised furniture, etc.), organizing as a social and event point like Strada Verde (Green Street).
• Improving bicycle/pedestrian mobility by modifying boundaries and the appearance of the parcel.
• Urban Hacking – a form of protest or direct action (when a group undertakes an action intending to reflect an existing problem, highlight an alternative, or demonstrate a possible solution to a social problem).

3. NEW URBAN POLICIES for (re)defining the regulation of unused interstitial space and urban boundaries:

• Regulation of punitive measures for illegal parking through progressive increases in fines based on recidivism.
• Promotion of the OCCUPY! movement at this urban development level.
• Reanalysis of land ownership to assign a new purpose or reclaim neglected or harmful land through a set of evaluation criteria to avoid the risk of becoming an instrument of abusive dispossession.
• Activating residents through this program and associated events.
• Changing public opinion by promoting public policies, business models, and implemented physical projects as good practices through mass media and online social channels.
• Changing mentality and urban behavior determined by the broken windows theory.
• Think globally, act locally – Promoting ecopreneurship and engagement for sustainable development.
• Listening to the voices of residents and giving them a voice through the creation of historical street corridor presentations with resident names, photo portraits, and anecdotes about people and places for the ultimate goal of reinventing a vacant place.
• Establishing legal community street and neighborhood associations.
• Supporting municipal subsidies for initiatives that involve the creation of infrastructure and interfaces that take over the performance of natural ecosystem services.
• Highlighting urban alternatives through exhibitions and community communications, civic-urban education programs for residents (possibly with students from urban planning, architecture, landscape architecture, public administration, geography, sociology, biology, etc.).
• Reactivating/revitalizing public space – “reconquest” of public space – Correct and legal application of PUG (Urban General Plan) and zoning plans, laws, and regulations; raising public awareness.
• Objectives: rapid implementation, rapid applicability, expansion of good practices, reduction of production/implementation/resource/time costs.
• Different levels of impact – local (neighborhood), urban (city/town), regional (territorial), national, transnational, international, different degrees and forms of incentives adapted.
• Permits for administering temporary activities and simplifying the authorization of public space operation, at least for this type of intervention.
• Attracting attention to the space increases the possibility of valuing its improvements (increasing land/property value, more profitable sales, business opportunities, image creation, etc.).
• For unfinished buildings/construction sites or abandoned private property – minimal interventions regarding fences/boundaries should be possible: transforming fences into urban furniture, facilitating connection between eco-entrepreneurs and owners.
• Regulation by public policy allowing individual users (active resident guerillas), small communities, and eco/entrepreneurs to lobby or publicly pressure for the implementation of civic proposals.

In April 2016 (20-24), I participated in the organization of the international workshop “Confronting Wicked Problems – Adapting Architectural Education to the New Situation in Europe” at Dealu Frumos, a Transylvanian Saxon settlement in Sibiu county, as part of the omonymous Erasmus+ project carried out by a consortium of 8 European universities and the organizations EAAE (European Association for Architectural Education) and ACE (Architect’s Council of Europe), lasting for a period of 3 years (2015-2017).

Activities included drafting the workshop’s annual theme – “Depopulation as a Thorny Problem / Depopulation as a Wicked Problem,” delivering a presentation with the same title, and contributing to the drafting of the synthesis report for the UAUIM activity under the coordination of Prof. dr. arh. Ana Maria Dabija / prof. dr. arh. Zeno Bogdănescu, together with a colleague conf. dr. arh. Mihaela Hărmănescu.

I also participated in guiding teams of architecture students (Romanian – UAUIM, Dutch – TU-DELFT, and Italian – Politecnico di Milano). A survey conducted by me among participants (including mentors) revealed divergent positions regarding the impact of depopulation of settlements, as positive, negative, or neutral – these, along with other results and information from the workshop, were integrated into the introductory chapter of the thesis regarding sustainability.

As a PhD student in the first year, I participated in organizing the symposium, preparing materials and assisting guests; also, the new information assimilated from the conferences was of real use for the preparation of the first paper and the introductory part on sustainability in the field.

The LASER VALLEY – Land of Lights international competition was organized in 2016 by the Ministry of National Education and Scientific Research of Romania, together with the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu” Bucharest, the Bucharest Technical Construction University, and the Horia Hulubei Nuclear Physics and Engineering Institute.

Within the competition, we participated together with colleagues from the DUO STUDIO SRL architectural design office – architects Florin Cristache and Andrei Vlădescu – with the English-language proposal “SHOWCASE MĂGURELE – enLightening Laser Valley 2035” / “EXHIBITION MĂGURELE – Illuminating the Laser Valley 2035,” registered as number 30 in the participants’ register, according to the UAUIM printed competition album.

The team’s proposal, which I coordinated, focused on an urban and architectural expansion scenario that integrates innovations and technologies into urban and architectural interfaces.

The main image of the proposal, which exemplifies a possible appearance for the business area in 2035, was selected as the cover (in the images below) for the retrospective albums “LASER VALLEY – Land of Lights – From Vision to Action” (in Romanian) and “From Vision to Action” (in English) published in December 2016 with the aim of promoting the results of the competition and the realization and implementation of the Măgurele urban research pole.

The urban initiative is exceptional for post-1989 Romania: “Laser Valley – Land of Lights aims at an entire territory stretching across several counties, with important implications on the development, transport, and mobility axis of Europe represented by the Danube, with expectations of association to the European Union Strategy for the Danube Region (ESDR) as a flagship project. […]” being, due to its uniqueness, scale, complexity, and potential socio-economic impact, one of the most challenging for Romania after 1989 – certainly the largest in terms of intelligent territorial development.” and aims at “developing the ecosystem of science, innovation, and entrepreneurship.”

CONTEXT OF COMPETITION and PROPOSAL:

This initiative is based on the success of the pan-European Extreme Light Infrastructure – Nuclear Physics (ELI-NP) project, funded by the European Commission and partner Member States, initiated in 2005, with the first three pillars in Prague (Czech Republic), Szeged (Hungary), and Măgurele (Ilfov, Romania), near the Horia Hulubei Institute, which involves several components, including an extremely intense and bright gamma radiation beam (1013γ/s) and, as part of the Romanian infrastructure, a high-power laser system with 10 PetaWatt (ten trillion watts). On March 13, 2019, at Măgurele, the achievement of this value was publicly announced and demonstratively tested, making ELI-NP the most powerful laser in the world and potentially available for the first scientific experiments.

Associated with the construction of this exceptionally important and complex research infrastructure, a proposal was made to use it for a growing community of over 1000 Romanian and foreign specialists, organized in current and future science campuses, but also, potentially, by companies interested in patenting discoveries, future business incubators, technology transfer centers, etc., territorial development of intelligent urban poles is expected to increase.

Among the materialized initiatives is the Laser Valley – Land of Lights (more details in the first publication in 2015) initiative, in which authors imagine, building on the opportunity and success of implementing the ELI-NP project as a catalyst, a scenario of profound transformation for Măgurele following a participatory process involving local and central authorities, academia, universities, experts, and researchers, including architects and urban planners, and which seeks to “bring together people, innovation, and nature.” The working group’s activity continued in 2016 with the organization of an architecture and urbanism competition to which our proposal was also submitted.

The competition theme requested a vision for 2035: “a dynamic and open research ecosystem that thrives in an excellent built environment, which is both interesting and efficient. A place to live, to have fun, to learn, a center for science, for research, and a nucleus for innovation, business, and mobility […] encompassing the entire area between Bucharest, in the north, and the Argeș river, in the south, including the municipality of Măgurele, Mihăilești Lake, and 1 Port December on the Argeș river,” a vision that is grounded on three main principles of development: “1. Research and technology become the main factors of local and regional development; 2. The research environment exerts its influence on local development, thus resolving the tension between the antiqued built environment and the new one; 3. The Laser Valley spatial concept integrates green open spaces and utilizes the privileged location that the city of Măgurele holds in relation to Bucharest.”

The three winning projects were “Sun Valley” (First Prize), with a concrete proposal for urban layout and an appreciated balance between place, residents, transport, future agriculture, and advanced technologies, respectively “CO-existing City” (Second Prize) and “Full Spectrum” (Third Prize).

The proposal coordinated by me focused not on layout, but primarily on the urban image – literally – of a neighborhood that implements the technologies discovered (including currently) on the research platform. Considering the flexibility induced by the competition theme, regarding the area and type of intervention, our team’s proposal was a trio consisting of a visual scenario of a business neighborhood in Măgurele in 2035, a suggestive image of a mixed scientific exhibition and congress complex, and regarding the urban layout – only a sketch with a set of urban equipment at a macro scale and a possible disciplinary development of an international university campus.

Several key design principles for sustainable buildings and biologically-anthropic symbiotic urban systems were suggested in our team’s proposal, illustrated in the submission memorandum (pg.2):

• Integrating technologies developed on the local platform (through technology transfer from the research project to large-scale manufacturing)
• Integration of intelligent, contemporary, or developing technologies;
• Polarization of international research and innovative business communities;
• Architectural interfaces and urban interfaces that achieve energy self-sufficiency through innovative construction processes
• Flexibility of the project’s design addressing research facilities
• Easy access to the area for professionals and residents/citizens;
• Simpler or self-financing, through smarter design, according to research and grant requirements of the EU;
• Implementation of the international project PR/marketing/social impact;
• Holistic thinking and sustainable design, inclusive and ethical for future regions

Similarly, we focused on a series of subsystem components considered essential for defining the anthropogenic urban-architectural space in 2035 in a more balanced, congruent, rather than competitive relationship with the surrounding environment.

1. Multifunctional or green interfaces for architectural objects, utilities, and urban furniture.
2. Fluid, mixed, and interconnected mobility, including riverine.
3. Focusing on urban regulations, for the horizon of the 20 years, which restricts consumption in favor of sustainability and resilience, in the background of the transition to positive energy buildings.
4. Waterfronts and riverbanks: mobility, connectivity, leisure time, energy, purification
5. Towards energy independence – through clean energy.
6. Education to improve the environment and sustainability. Governance and partnership.

Several stages of the design process are illustrated, showing how the initial rough proposal evolved into the final version submitted for the competition.

The proposal also included several other considerations, such as an energy autonomy scenario, through energy production locally by a grid with points formed by the architectural interfaces, and a vision for the riverbank perimeters based on mobility, connectivity, leisure time, and clean energy.

The core concept was the continuation of development based on research, through the implementation of innovations and technologies studied and tested, even in the present, within the building envelopes and within rehabilitated buildings (retrofit): “We chose as our mission to highlight the Values, Inventions, and Achievements of high technology in Măgurele – Laser Valley – transferring them from international research teams, academic groups and universities, to industry, the private sector interested in further development, and, not least, providing access and knowledge to the general public (from Bucharest and beyond), involving and empowering the local population through services and activities, on a territorial canvas that INTEGRATES the developed technology.”

More than a high-tech cluster, Laser Valley 2035 could be an example of European-level cooperation and scientific cooperation. It should provide the local and international community with a visionary, enlightened future, an example of how learning and innovation environments can sustainably and resiliently lead civilization and society in a certain place.”

A series of key design principles for sustainable and symbiotic bio-anthropogenic building systems were suggested in our proposal, illustrated in the memorandum submitted for the competition :

• Integrating technology developed on the local platform (through technology transfer from the research project to large-scale manufacturing)
• Integration of intelligent, contemporary, or development technologies;
• Polarization of international research and innovative business communities;
• Achieving energy self-sufficiency through innovative construction interfaces
• Flexibility of the project’s design addressing research facilities
• Easy access to the area for professionals and residents/citizens;
• Simpler or self-financing, through smarter design, according to research and grant requirements of the EU;
• Implementation of the international project PR / marketing / social impact;
• Holistic thinking and sustainable design, inclusive and ethical for future regions.

Likewise, we focused on a series of subsystem components considered essential for defining the anthropogenic urban-architectural space in 2035 in a more balanced, congruent, rather than competitive relationship with the surrounding environment.

1. Multifunctional or green interfaces for architectural objects, utilities, and urban furniture.
2. Fluid, mixed, and interconnected mobility, including the river.
3. Focusing on urban regulations, for the horizon of the next 20 years, which restricts consumption in favor of sustainability and resilience, in the background of the transition to positive energy buildings.
4. Waterfronts and riverbanks: mobility, connectivity, leisure time, energy, purification
5. Towards energy independence – through clean energy.
6. Education to improve the environment and sustainability. Governance and partnership.

The same sequence of design stages, from a different angle of the business area boulevard, exemplifies the completely different profile that the voids, setbacks, and insertion of vegetation in the boulevard profile and the perspective point create, from a model of constructive mass and real estate development focused on maximizing square meters, to an example of mixed interfaces, focused on the comfort and increased or improved productivity of users through natural components, closer to the biomimetic building model of Michael Pawlyn or the intensely green urban character promoted by cities like Boston or Singapore.

In addition, other areas we focused on in our solution included an energy independence scenario, achieved through local energy production by a grid with points defined by the architectural interfaces, and a vision for the riverbank perimeters based on mobility, connectivity, leisure time, and clean energy.

“Considering a 2035 horizon, such building interfaces and general infrastructure should become a machine for the environment, cleaning water, air, and soil through their interfaces, actively improving the lives of its residents, like a body that heals itself.” (Memorandum Proposal, pg.8/9)

Furthermore, other considerations were incorporated, such as a scenario for energy autonomy through local energy production via a grid with points defined by the architectural interfaces, and a vision for the riverbank perimeters based on mobility, connectivity, leisure time, and clean energy.

“This curtain contributes to controlling the interior environment, purifying the air during ventilation, and illuminating the building’s exterior. The curtain will function as an interactive epidermal interface, exchanging information with the external environment. The envelope is intended to be a new type of curtain that will include perforated aluminum tubes mounted perpendicular to the glass facade. Each tube contains an intelligent decision system, produces and stores the energy necessary to perform the proposed functions, and also provides controlled air exchange between the two media. […] The purpose of the project is to advance environmental science by creating ecological devices capable of reducing a building’s energy consumption by performing certain functions of the device/apparatus.”

Among the comments we made on the project, we noted that we use, in addition to the scrap of paper cut to A6, A5, and A4 (for accounting), plastic caps accompanying cardboard rolls when they deliver them.

The caps lose their utility when they are put in the plotter, but when the tubes are reused as tubes, the caps resume their protective role – so they do not reach the trash and, more importantly, because they look like they have been specially designed to star at the end of the structure, make the objects look more professional.

I also pointed out that the societal impact was (at the time of the interview), but it is also a personal mission and a form of emphasis on the benefits of waste, visual, economic, and environmental, more than an independent business.

The strong message that our furniture sends about us as innovators and producers is the same for potential buyers, attracted by the sustainability factor – companies concerned with responsible resource consumption.

Adrian from Tubatect is optimistic and considers that it is mainly.
attracted by the sustainability of its products and they buy cartoon supply for items meaning, because it conveys a very strong message and it is noticeable: “There are many other recycled products, but not that massive, they are small and unobservant, but when you enter a room where there are one piece of supply that looks like this, the message is vertical.”

During the interview, he clarified the status of those who are employed by NGOs, companies, and people concerned with environmental issues, who undertake recycling activities. Furthermore, the tubes come with black or blue plastic stoppers, which contribute to making the design: “Being designated principally for tubes, the stoppers do not have the appearance of an upcycled item; they are so well-built that it seems that they have been designed particularly for the supply”.

The author also noted that we do not want to have copyright because we would like other plot centers to take our model; more than competition, it is more important for the message to be a common one and for the initiative to have a greater impact.

In addition, one of its conclusions for overcoming the current stage (consumption to exhaustion of resources) is the need for continuing innovation, granting incentives and organising partnerships and social responsibility campaigns (CSR) “In Romania, on this subject: “”conventional businesses have to engage in more CSR campaigns and.” the Leading Authorities have to contribute with their support of social enterprises endeavors.

Finally, as the concepts are relatively new to the market, further research needs to be pursued, and entrepreneurs have to avail themselves of research and technological innovations to be competitive and sustainable […] The sequence of incentives that promote rethink, reinvent, reuse, remanufacture and recycle discards to cooperate with partners involved in the economy, both vertically and horizontally being desirable, and provision of adequate training and support for the people engaged in the activity at all stages can be “Sizable contribution on decoupling the economic growth from natural resources deposition and created new opportunities for business development.” .

In 2016, in the 2nd semester of the first year of the doctoral program, as a representative in the Senate of doctoral students, and in the 1st semester of the second year, as a representative in the CSUD, I organized several meetings to increase the degree of interactivity between doctoral students and the establishment of working groups on common or similar topics, possibly teams, subsequently having as an objective the writing of applications for architectural competitions and national calls or activities with UAUIM students (October 2016), including a first draft of an application for the material development of the Doctoral School of Architecture (team report), by accessing the POCU 6.13 funding line, Doctoral and post-doctoral scholarships.

Successive postponements of this call (the guide was still in public consultation in September 2019) and the lack of experience in writing such applications, of mine and most of my colleagues, led to prioritizing other actions.

Concrete, subsequent results of the meetings were the creation of the bilingual website of the Doctoral School of Architecture with the help of my colleague Dr.Arch. Ioana Popescu (2018) and with the support of Prof.Dr.Arch. Victoria Ochinciuc (former Director of ȘDA) and the application for ROSE SGNU STARRRHI+ funding (2019) for 1st year students, with the involvement of ȘDA doctoral students, with the support of Assoc. Prof.Dr.Arch. Maria Enache, Grant Director and Assoc. Prof.Dr.Arch. Anca Mitrache, Director of CCOC.

Thematic research groups proposed by UAUIM PhD students – www.phd-uauim.ro

At the meetings of 8 and 22 November 2016, respectively, in the context of Tuesdays at Vila Moxa, together with a group of about 30 fellow PhD students, from all years, following the presentations of the European funding consultant (Dr. ec. Cristina Iova), we carried out an exercise to frame and align the research themes with the objectives/priorities of SNCDI research, areas of competitiveness of the SNC and the societal challenges of the Europe 2020 Strategy of the European Commission under the leadership of President Juncker, using the results to structure 4 research groups: Innovative Materials (1), Smart Governance/Smart Cities (2), Space, Identity and Cultural Heritage (3) and the Sustainability and Resilience group (4) – thus integrated on the PhD students’ website.

Following my return from the internships in Brussels, I started preparing the PhD-UAUIM.ro website,
together with my colleague, Dr. Arch. Ioana Popescu organized the following categories of information: general about ȘDA, news and events, community (coordinators, PhD students, doctors and researchers, thematic groups, courses, schedules), and projects (ongoing / completed), according to the scheme.

The website is imagined as a business card for the community involved in research at the UAUIM level, both individually and as a team, with an individual page for supervisors, PhD students and architects registered volunteers on the website, with a bilingual mention of the topic and keywords (there is a possibility to search by fields of interest on the portal), respectively CV, public email address, other useful information for the target audience or relevant for the career
of the authors, according to the models below:

The website is still active, financially supported by the undersigned, and for the part of
editing and writing, it also benefits from the support of Mrs. Dr. Arch. Ioana Popescu (Zest Collective).

The business plan also took into account the context regarding the demand or need for such objects, in the context in which the post-2008 economic crisis and the increase in the degree of eco-civic education may lead to an increase in the segment of the population that no longer wants to be part of the “general wave of consumption, amid awareness of the need to reduce the use of raw materials, respectively the EU’s efforts to encourage the sustainable and efficient use of natural resources by promoting energy efficiency, the low-carbon economy, environmental protection and adaptation to climate change have increased waste recovery initiatives, including creative ones, through recycling or upcycling, exponentially increasing the public’s interest in this type of product (see the local case of Upside Down SRL, which successfully makes and sells wallets, bags, purses, pencil cases, etc. from truck tarpaulins or street banners).”

Similarly, our products convert short-life materials and waste into longer-lasting objects with very low to zero energy consumption. The collection, recovery, reuse and upcycling of cardboard tubes, which have special properties of vertical mechanical resistance (compression), is very useful given their size and volume, which significantly reduces the amount of waste going to landfills and requiring a complex recycling process.

In 2019, I proposed several variants for an Expert CDI Research-Innovation-Development prototype of ECOMODUL – an ecological module with a desk/setup located in nature, energy-autonomous (with solar panels), and dimensions to facilitate transport to platforms at different sites.

Differences in ECOMOD variants concerned the structural system, the skeleton, and the form of purchase and delivery, but were similar with respect to the structural system and the outer part of the tyre with ecosystemic interfaces proposed to be tested in this pilot research project.

The ECOMODUL was subject to a PROJECT CERCETARE – DEZVOLTARE – INOVARE with non-reimbursable funding obtained by the photo-video company FOTO VERDE PLUS in Prahova County, Breza Municipality, funding aimed at both its conception and pilot implementation as equipment for photographs, videographers, and company vloggers.

Since 2015, we have also begun investigating the option of using the tube scraps left over after cutting to size for modular tube racks. In previous years, we used them for our clients’ rolls of boards – as in the image below, but upon closer analysis, we noticed more creative and commercial possibilities.

Thus, we began creating and producing design objects that serve as lighting fixtures, the first test being a Christmas tree model for our office, which we also used during the 2018 holidays and at exhibitions.

The cylindrical remnants, of different cardboard shades, diameters and lengths, respectively texture thicknesses, are creatively joined in various compositions and proportions on a rigid cardboard support panel.

Compared to other objects, which are mounted ecologically by mechanical fastening, without adhesives, in this case we used aracet to support the panel. For lighting we used LED bulbs – here we even used a winter tree installation with uniform white light – which we removed through holes inside most of the cylinders in the tubes.

The programmed and varied play of LEDs further creates a very captivating animated and dynamic effect, both through the rhythmicity of the installation itself, but also through the various juxtaposed shadows left by the unevenly sized cardboard. The compositional possibilities, together with the options for the type of LED strips, are unlimited.

In December 2016 I was invited to organize a creative recycling workshop to create such a Christmas Tree, ecologically reinterpreted for the ECOTEC Association, Bucharest, where, with the support of a group of volunteers and members of the association, I built such an object in 2 hours, having at my disposal tubes collected or recovered by them.

Together we cut the fragments to sizes more suitable for the concept, glued them, perforated a white painted board, made of sawdust and included the installation – for this model having a variant of red LED lights available.

In this way, we have reached the stage where we recycle and creatively upcycle at another level for the leftovers derived from the production of furniture from waste. We call this process Upcycle 2.0 or Upcycle squared and for this type of objects we are considering a collection/vernissage for 2020.

In this interview, taking into account the audience the magazine was addressing, I drew attention to the social responsibility component of the concept – and the role of educator of society, which the designer can have through his objects: “The decision to keep these leftovers does not come only from design.

It comes from an ambition of STUDIOPLOT to leave behind as little waste as possible from our activity. They are “waste” that we should not call that. Not as long as we can reuse or reinterpret them. Some call it internal regulations, office ethics, but we see it as a new standard of life, of society.

We even managed to reuse the leftovers from the tubes, some are braces for attaching the tubes, and with the others we make washers and give our clients the boards stuck in them.”

At that time, pre-doctoral, I did not suspect that the advanced attitude is a typical one that describes the processes by which biological systems in nature operate in an efficient multi-epoch circularity, a function described in the subchapter on the work of architect Michael Pawlyn and in the one on the Cradle to Cradle concept of William McDonough.

During this period, we began to ask ourselves the question of the tube residues that remained after the modular assembly (in the images on the right), in 2013 using them to package the rolls of sheets for STUDIOPLOT clients.

Later, in 2016, we developed a range of lighting fixtures with them, moving to an Upcycle 2.0 level of plotting waste.

Here we concentrated some of the furniture designed at the time of March-April 2013, when we were preparing to launch the product offer and had not yet chosen the name Tubatect.

Another interview followed, given by the Brussels department of the Portuguese television SIC NOTICIAS filmed in 2013 and published as a video report for the segment “Green Europe” in 2014.

During the interview, I again drew attention to the social responsibility component, this time on the substrate of the transition from the idea of ​​recycling forced by communism to the modern, contemporary approach, from the individual to the community regarding the intelligent use of resources, including waste.

This principle today is fundamental in defining the circular economy and responsible design, towards a model not only of energy-efficient production but also of 0 waste (arch. Mihai Trandafir, founding member of ZEBRA, national association of NZEB and PassiveHouses professionals), for the health of people and the environment.

In the same year, our proposal was selected for the second edition of Ciorne 2.0 (Drafts 2.0) – How do ideas become reality? for out-of-the-box ideas, alongside other brands, including Pegas (the bicycle manufacturer that revived the classic 80s model), where we talked about the beginning, the concept, and process.

While working, we often change the shape on the fly, looking for the perfect proportion or maximum utility”, this flexibility in design for efficiency being one of the brand’s current principles.

Organized by the Friends For Friends Foundation, the opening and the associated public debate highlighted the existence and enthusiasm of an “eco” consumer market that we could address with the mass production of this type of furniture – that was also the moment when we decided to launch the objects commercially, for the future.

The Ciorne 2.0 opening and the impact that our presentation had also revealed the marketing potential for all the activities carried out by the office – architecture, furnishings, design and printing.

That is why, in 2013, for the popularization of the concept, it emerged a series of presentation workshops and public testing emerged, a presence at a Carturești MȚR exhibition, and an exclusive opening for our concept (Furnitubes, Industrial Design at the Imbold Gallery) and a series of interviews and articles, the first being in the student architect magazine Atelierul de Proiectare.

However, the first time we went out into the community with the objects through which we recycle waste from our own activities was during the 2012 Architecture Annual, under the general theme of Eco-Architecture, where we exhibited 2 panels featuring the tube shelves from the previous year in the Design section.

Also on this occasion, I began to sketch – after the practical stage, which originated from the need and desire to experiment – ​​the theoretical concept, namely a set of design principles and ecological ethics, based on which the entire range of objects that we now offer was later developed.

Thus, the description of our proposal was as follows: “A piece of furniture resulting from the activity of our plotting center, in the spirit of the simple idea of ​​not throwing anything away, of reusing creatively.

RE-USE | RE-CREATE | RE-MAKE | RE-CYCLE | RE-THINK
DUO STUDIO Proposal

As a first experiment, we chose the furniture objects that were needed in our own spaces. OBJECTS
FOR US, MADE BY US, WITH OUR OWN WASTE MATERIALS. The simple module of the
cardboard tube allows for a wide range of furniture objects – from overhead shelves to desk and table supports, or to seating. Reusing used materials has become a priority within our design concepts. ECO-ARCHITECTURE is not just a trend.

It must be the ethical, efficient and realistic response of the architect/designer, a community and society to contemporary reality. “ANYTHING (WASTE) CAN BE REUSED.” .

Tuburetii – chair models with or without drawers and backrest or “2-sided” versions
transformable into coffee tables, optimally modulated on any of the dimensions 300, 420,
450, 500, 600, 840, 900, 1000, 1060mm, etc.

Tubajerele – of different sizes, shelves made of tubes, optimally modulated on the widths of
300, 420, 450, 500 mm, length 600, 900, or 1060mm and respectively height of 840, 900,
1000, 1680, 1800 or 2000 mm or, with additional labor, any other dimensions.

As a design element, cardboard tubes are a component with great visual impact and offer a multitude of possibilities for creative (re)use in layouts and for objects.

However, our solutions also have a strong ecological message – we produce new objects by reusing our own scraps, waste from various activities (design, printing), which we sell on, with minimal energy consumption, in a typical ecosystemic circular sustainability model that motivated the first phase of my doctoral research.